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My goals with this character were: I wanted to win with a high evasion, low GDR character, I wanted to win high evasion, low GDR with Uskayaw, and I wanted to win short blades without Trog and without branching into summoning. This was an experiment as much as a goal; I've largely ascended heavy armour tabdudes, and only ever two blaster casters and recently some stabber summoners. (I recently ascended a HaAs with the same idea, but through a bizarre confluence of artifacts had 43 Str and Crystal Plate Armour.)

You escaped.You worshipped Uskayaw.Uskayaw was exalted by your worship.You were not hungry.

You visited 9 branches of the dungeon, and saw 49 of its levels.You visited 2 bazaars.You visited 1 ziggurat, and saw 11 of its levels.You also visited: Bailey, Ice Cave and Desolation.

You collected 8164 gold pieces.You spent 5883 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand Weapons a - the +8 rapier of the Sea (weapon) {venom, rF+++ rC++ Str-2 Stlth-} (You found it on level 7 of a ziggurat)

It poisons the flesh of those it strikes.

It affects your strength (-2). It renders you almost immune to fire. It greatly protects you from cold. It makes you less stealthy.Armour d - the +4 steam dragon scales of the Maze (worn) {rElec rCorr SInv} (You bought it in a shop on level 1 of the Vaults)

It insulates you from electricity. It lets you see invisible. It provides partial protection from all sources of acid and corrosion. v - the +0 helmet of Sloth (worn) {rPois Dex+4} (You acquired it on level 7 of the Dungeon)

It affects your dexterity (+4). It protects you from poison. y - a +2 pair of gloves of strength (worn) D - a scarf of cloud immunity (worn) N - a +2 pair of boots of running (worn) T - a +3 buckler of reflection (worn)Jewellery p - a +5 ring of slaying (left hand) s - the amulet of the Four Winds (around neck) {rN+ MR+++ Clar} (You took it off an orc warrior in a bailey)

You are small and have problems with some larger weapons.You are carnivorous and can eat meat at any time.You are partially covered in large bone plates. (SH +4)You are partially covered in molten scales. (AC +2)You are resistant to hostile enchantments. (MR+)You expend magic power (3 MP) to strengthen your wands.

This character took awhile to get going, but that's mostly my fault for long-refusing to use enchant weapon scrolls on an unbranded rapier.

Thoughts:

The Assassin background sort of sucks and sort of doesn't. I learned to give out poison needles like Halloween candy -- Ogres, Worms, Orc Wizards, uniques, etc, and I still didn't run out before I stopped using the blowgun in Lair. But I barely even tried to stab popcorn; shouting and luring was by far the best strategy early game. (I splatted a lot of assassins before I won one.)

High EV is viable, but GDR is probably better. I actually wore Troll Leather Armour for the entire game before Zot because I never found my coveted Acid Dragon Scales. I was squishy but my only sticky situations came from leaning on my tab key -- and even then, not too many. (Line Pass was great for leaving sticky situations.) The greatest additional squishiness probably came from low Kobold HP, not low AC. Whatever is the full truth, high EV melee was good enough that I won't again work against a species's aptitudes just to wear heavy armour.

Uskayaw is fun and powerful. I wore a +5 Slaying ring so I can't say unreservedly that the short blade damage was "enough", but I bet it would have been. Line Pass was good enough for getting stabs on nasties, but they had an annoying habit of stepping away from me while confused. I didn't use Grand Finale often, but what fun when I did! (I mostly used Grand Finale as a controlled blink or to destroy an electric monster.)

I love Ziggurats. I've developed a beautiful habit of stepping out of a Ziggurat before it gets scary (except for that one time) and it's been paying off in the form of big stacks of consumables for Zot.

Haste/Teleport is waaaaaaaaaaaaay better Vault:$ strategy than scroll so immolation. (Although the aforementioned CPA halfling tabbed through the welcoming committee and the rest of the level with a +12 Vampire's Tooth.)

What about that rF+++ rC++ artifact rapier though? WUT WUT! The game actually yielded three strong artifact rapiers and I had enough enchant weapon scrolls to bring two others to +9. Anecdotally, floor god seems to generate more unrand short blades (and maces) than anything else. Does anyone know if that's true?

So that's it! I really enjoy short blades and am curious of other non-Trog ways to win with them. Fedhas seems great because mushrooms can confuse and Oklobs can corrode high AC. Wu Jian seems like it won't actually work. I think Ru passively confuses enemies and I would stab them? (Not sure.) Kiku will give me a pain brand but I don't know anything about Necromancy.

Gozag's gold aura causes distraction for stabbing. Dith makes it easier to go unnoticed for sleep and unnoticed stabs, and his shadow mimic very occasionally distracts, iirc. Oka & Trog give you needles of confuse/paralyze/sleep/frenzy. Fedhas & Ru, like you mentioned. Zin's Recite can confuse and paralyze (high Invocations recommended and it doesn't work on natural monsters—like basically all of Lair).

Other gods that give allies help a bit: allies very occasionally cause distraction, setting up stabs, and otherwise can cover you if things go poorly. Kiku is my favorite for this and pain brand is a big boost to short blades. Hep:s hexer ally deserves special mention here.

Gods that help with Hexes and Summoning spells are great with stabbers, too: Sif, Ash, Dith (shadow mimic), Oka (heroism saves XP from combat skills that can be used on spell skills).

The damage bonus from statue form for weapons is just x1.5 melee damage. Since being in statue form means you are making 33% fewer melee attacks, this is only enough to break even on DPS before AC (and actually makes your DPS worse if you have an additive brand like draining or electrocution). Statue form only significantly improves melee if you are unarmed.